It is now fairly common to use the "containerized freight" concept when transporting cargo across the ocean. Normally special cranes are located at each port facility to load the individual freight containers onto the departing ship, and to remove said containers from the incoming ship. During wartime operations the existing cranes and docks might well be demolished by the enemy force. Therefore it would be desirable to devise some system for unloading freight containers from large seagoing ships even when the existing docks and crane facilities are damaged, demolished or inadequate.
The present invention is directed to a freight container unloading system useful in "beach" environments that lack permanent crane facilities. The system is designed in the form of "knockdown" components assemblable at the beach site to form a conveyor leading from a beached watercraft to a suitable waiting overland transport vehicle, e.g. a tractor-trailer. An aim of the invention is to provide an unloader system that is relatively simple so that it can be developed into the hardware stage with minimum time and expense. Another aim is to provide an unloader system that can be utilized in various beach environments (e.g. loose sandy soils or wet muddy soils or rough rocky soils) and various beach widths (measured from the beached watercraft to the waiting overland transport).